


The Things that Could Have Been

by TimesBeingWhatTheyAre



Series: The Life and Times of Newt [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: A little bit of everything, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Gen, Humour, More Ships to come, professor scamander
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:48:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23883280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimesBeingWhatTheyAre/pseuds/TimesBeingWhatTheyAre
Summary: After decades of travelling the world for his creatures, Newt takes up a place at Hogwarts as the Care of Magical Creatures Professor.A canon!rewrite of Harry's time at Hogwarts where Professor Scamander is around
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore & Newt Scamander, Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald, Original Percival Graves/Newt Scamander
Series: The Life and Times of Newt [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721299
Comments: 3
Kudos: 75





	The Things that Could Have Been

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, nor the universe of this story. They are all the property of J.K.Rowling, and I am merely playing in her sandbox.
> 
> This story is largely based around canon, so I will not be writing the canon events (mostly because I'm bored of stories that focus too much on the canon stuff) and so canon is summarised in between the focus on Professor Scamander. It will diverge more and more as the story goes on, so I hope you enjoy!

Harry had loved Hogwarts from the moment he saw it.

He had loved the idea of it long before that; had longed for a home away from the Dursleys where he wouldn’t have to cook and clean and weed, and had spent years in his cupboard dreaming of a house where his parents were alive and loved him. His dreams had been the best part of his life for a long time.

Hogwarts perhaps wasn’t the house he’d dreamed of, but it was Harry’s escape alright. It was the home he had always wanted. And within days, he had known it was where he would find his family.

The feast on the first night had been brilliant, and he’d had so much to eat that he nearly threw up, but Harry was still up bright and early the next morning. It was habit, really.

Ron wasn’t awake yet, as Harry discovered when he pulled back his friend’s curtains with a hissed _“Ron!”_ only to find his new friend snoring, and he was looking forwards to chatting with him later. In the meantime, Harry made his way to breakfast, getting lost quite a few times on his way, and only really making it in half an hour because of the friendly help of some portraits (which spoke!).

He settled down with some toast, munching on it happily, and looking around the room with a new sense of wonder, and that was the first time that he saw him.

He hadn’t learnt the teacher’s name on that first night (which Harry initially attributed to the sheer amount of information he’d received, but later learnt that he just hadn’t been there) and so Harry had looked across the table to the staff table and seen an unusual figure.

The man’s hair was grey and his face was lined with wrinkles, much like Professor Dumbledore’s, but that was where the resemblance ended. His hair was short and extremely curly, hanging over his head like some odd creature had chosen it for a perch, and it swung into his eyes as he enthusiastically ate his food. He was happily chattering away to one of the female professors, his hands moving wildly as he did so, and his clothing was oddly normal (especially for this school, apparently). He wore something that looked a lot like a suit, with a short brown jacket and no coat, and as Harry stared curiously, the man glanced up his way and caught his eye.

He shot Harry a quick smile, seeming to lose his train of thought for a moment, then continuing on with the gesturing without another look Harry’s way. Harry had smiled back a little belatedly, noting that the man’s eyes were a light blue, but not nearly as piercing as Dumbledore’s.

“Alright, mate?” Ron said cheerfully from behind, and Harry jumped, startled.

“Morning, Ron,” he said with a grin, ecstatic to have a friend. He had meant to ask Ron about the man, figuring the boy’s brothers probably had mentioned something to him previously, but in the excitement of food and timetables, it completely slipped his mind.

* * *

Harry’s first week of classes were very exciting, and it was hard to believe that he was actually learning how to do _magic_. Ron was as brilliant as Harry had hoped, and had begun to introduce Harry to a series of wizarding games. His favourite so far was definitely the Exploding Snap, if only for the face Seamus made the first time it blew up.

He was getting a little concerned that Seamus might be a little addicted to fire. He hadn’t seen the boy’s eyebrows since the first day. They kept getting singed off.

Harry had his first flying lesson, and became a part of the Gryffindor team. He’d also had a near-death experience with a three headed dog, learnt that Malfoy was a coward who couldn’t be trusted, and that Hermione was a goodie-two-shoes.

It wasn’t until shortly after their second flying lesson that he had spotted the man again. He was a distance away, on the other side of the Great Lake where Ron and he had strolled to sit and enjoy the sunshine before dinner, and the man in question was walking around the grounds near Hagrid’s hut with another figure that looked familiar.

He poked Ron. “Is that Professor Dumbledore?” he asked, and Ron stopped complaining about Madam Hooch’s strictness.

Ron squinted. “I think it is,” he said.

“What’s he doing out here?”

“Oh, he’s great friends with Professor Scamander, everyone says so,” Ron said airily, waving a hand, and Harry decided not to mention that when Ron said ‘everyone’ he meant ‘Fred and George’.

“Really? Is that Professor Scamander then?”

“Blimey, I forget that sometimes you don’t know things,” Ron replied, a little confusingly Harry thought.

Harry bit his lip, and eloquently responded with a slightly hurt “What?”

Ron noticed Harry’s tone and quickly said “Oh, it’s not your fault mate. I just meant- well, Professor Scamander’s pretty famous, you know,”

Harry raised his eyebrows and squinted at the man again. “What for?” he asked.

“Oh, well he’s this big magical creatures expert. Wrote one of the first books on it, or something. It was a big deal when he began teaching here, think he used to, like, travel the world,”

Harry hmmed in response, watching the two professors continue their walk to the edge of the forest, then Ron distracted him with some new quidditch news and Harry forgot to pay attention to where they went next.

When he looked up again, they were gone.

* * *

At Halloween, Harry had been a bit quiet all day, knowing for the first time that this was the day that his parents had died. That Voldemort had killed them.

Ron had tried valiantly to cheer him up, and had tempted a smile from him with the promise of treacle tart, but really Harry was looking forwards to being able to go lie down in his bed and not have to think about anything.

So the troll wasn’t a very pleasant surprise.

Even less pleasant was the fact that Ron had insulted Hermione enough for her to be crying in the toilets, and their subsequent adventure to save her afterwards. The teachers had been a little angry, but privately Harry thought it could have been a lot worse.

He was surprised to see Professor Scamander slip into the room after Snape and Quirrell though. After Professor McGonagall had finished scolding them, Ron and he hurried out of the room, joining Hermione who was waiting outside for them.

Harry looked back as the door closed, and saw Professor Scamander crouching next to the troll’s head, a gentle hand placed on the oversized body part. He looked like he was caring for it, and Harry realised that Professor Scamander must be a very kind person indeed, and for a moment Harry felt a little bad for knocking out the troll.

The slight stickiness of his wand for the next two weeks meant that his guilt didn’t last long.

* * *

After the absolute chaos that had been Harry’s first Quidditch match, the three of them had begun to research into Nicolas Flamel, and Harry’s interest in Professor Scamander had been put on the backburner.

He had, however, started to become friends with the twins, given that they’d essentially spent the last few months fending off extremely fast and dangerous metal balls from literally knocking him out of the air. So he felt comfortable in finding a private moment to grab the pair and ask them a little bit more about the professor in private.

Harry, after all, had never had him for a lesson. Fred and George were in third year though, so probably had Care of Magical Creatures with him.

“Professor Scamander?” repeated Fred (or George).

“He’s a bit nuts, that one,” said George (or Fred).

“Loves animals-“

“-that he does-“

“-really knows his stuff-“

“-just don’t ask him anything not about animals-“

“-and he’ll be the best professor you’ve ever had,”

“What else would you ask him about?” Harry wanted to know. Surely it wasn’t odd to refuse questions about his personal life.

The twins exchanged a look.

“Well, he fought against Grindelwald, didn’t he,” one of them said (Harry had given up on trying to keep track of which one was which).

“Captured him the first time, before Dumbledore joined in,”

He looked at them in confusion.

“Grindelwald?” he asked, and the twins looked around the common room, checking to see who was listening, then marched him over to a chair in the corner and sitting him down.

And so it was that Harry learnt the story of the Dark Lord Grindelwald and his rise to power. He had to restrain himself from giving both Professor Dumbledore and Professor Scamander awed looks for weeks after, because never mind somehow defeating Lord Voldemort as a child. They’d _duelled_ a Dark Lord, and won.

* * *

The mirror of Erised was an incredible find for Harry. He was overjoyed to finally see an image of his parents for the first time, and it was a joy that didn’t fade by the third time he returned to stare at it at night.

Dumbledore’s presence and warning to him had been a little sobering though. Harry was sad to learnt that the mirror was being moved, but also knew that Dumbledore probably did know best, and so didn’t complain to him.

The man’s obvious deflection of his question didn’t bother him either. Harry had winced as soon as he’d asked it, realising that it was actually a very private question he’d asked, and he didn’t blame his teacher for not answering it properly at all. He’d been quite grateful to be allowed to leave, although he was as loathe as always to leave the image of his parents behind, and so it was that he didn’t notice the third presence in the room.

As Harry left, Newt made himself visible, standing quietly in the corner of the room. He walked softly over to Dumbledore and placed a hand on his shoulder as the man continued to stare into the mirror.

“You’ve more than made up for your mistakes,” Newt murmured, neither of them looking at one another.

Dumbledore sighed. “I will never make up for my mistakes,” he responded, and the two of them fell back into silence.

Eventually, Dumbledore moved away, and Newt walked to the centre for a moment, looking into the mirror and smiling sadly at what he saw.

“We truly are melancholy old men,” Albus said to Newt, turning back from the door to see that the magizoologist had taken his place by the mirror.

Newt laughed, glancing up and holding Albus’ gaze.

“It’s a miracle we’ve made it so far,” he replied, walking away from the mirror too and standing next to the headmaster.

“Grindelwald?” he asked softly.

“Leta?” Albus asked in return.

They stepped out together, and the next day, Dumbledore moved the mirror to its new home.

* * *

The dragon fiasco was what led to Harry’s first real interaction with Professor Scamander himself. He had seen the man from afar, but the closest they’d really come to speaking was at Halloween, and the professor was only there to deal with the troll.

“Mr Potter?” Harry heard from behind, and Harry turned around automatically, eyes widening as he saw that it was Professor Scamander who had stopped him.

“Professor!” Harry exclaimed, immediately flushing and wishing that he didn’t sound so excited to see the man.

Luckily, the professor chose to be kind (or didn’t notice his odd tone of voice) and continued on.

“May I have a word?”

“Of course sir!”

Merlin, Harry wished he could control himself.

The professor walked over to a slightly quieter section of the courtyard and Harry followed obediently, wondering what this was about. Then he remembered the dragon and the 150 points they’d lost, and he began hoping desperately that it wasn’t about to be another scolding.

Harry looked up through his lashes at the man, and waited nervously, biting his lip and missing the way that the professor’s hands scrunched nervously in his pockets.

“I know you don’t know me,” Professor Scamander began, and Harry felt a little puzzled. “-but I hope you know that I- I am the Care of Magical Creatures Professor,”

“Yes sir,” Harry replied.

“I am well equipped to deal with animals,” he hinted, and Harry felt his eyes widen.

“How did you know?” Harry asked, then realised how guilty he sounded and wished he could punch himself in the face all over again.

Professor Scamander snorted slightly. “There are wards,” he said simply, and Harry blinked slightly.

“Wards, sir?” he questioned, trying to move on from the dragon.

“On Hogwarts,” the man clarified. “People and creatures who enter and exit are monitored by them,”

“Oh,” Harry mumbled.

Professor Scamander sighed. “You could get into a lot more trouble next time,” he warned, and Harry kept his head down, wondering if the man was looking at him or not.

He spotted the man’s hands twitching in his pockets.

“If there are any more issues with magical creatures, I want you to come to me,” the professor said, and Harry whipped his head up to stare at the man.

“Even if its illegal?” he asked.

To his surprise, the man’s mouth flicked up into a nervous smile for a moment, and Professor Scamander met his gaze head on for a second.

“It may surprise you to know, but not all my dealings with magical creatures are entirely legal,” he grinned a little, and Harry felt the amazement from earlier return to flood his chest, and beamed back at the man.

He looked a little startled, and quickly said “No more foolishness,”

Harry winced, feeling the shame again, and nodded slightly.

“Sorry professor,”

Professor Scamander nodded, then hurried away, his grey hair bobbing on his forehead, and Harry watched him go, pulling back the titbit about the man _breaking the law_ for his magical creatures, and that was where Ron found him a couple of minutes later.

“You alright there mate?”

“Ron, I think I’m in love,”

* * *

Filch had made Harry rather nervous on the walk down to the Forest, and consequentially, Harry had been extremely glad to hear Hagrid’s booming voice and spot the lithe figure of Professor Scamander next to him.

Filch slinked off, back into the darkness, and the small group made their way towards the edge of the Forest. It seemed even more terrifying in the dark of the night, and Harry quietly asked Professor Scamander what he was doing there as they went.

“Hagrid requested that I come along, given that this is my area of expertise,” he replied reasonably, the quiet _click_ of his cane hitting stones underfoot reassuring Harry.

Ron nudged Harry with a grin, as if to remind Harry that this was a man who had duelled with Grindelwald. Harry smiled back. They would be safe.

He was less sure of that conviction by the time Ron and Hermione had split off with Hagrid, and he’d been left with Malfoy and Professor Scamander. He didn’t know what Malfoy might do, and everywhere Harry looked, he began to think that he could see eyes in the darkness.

Perhaps the Forbidden Forest was forbidden for a reason.

The trail of unicorn blood was horrific, and the largest pool of gleaming silver led Harry to wonder if the creature would still be alive when they found it. He turned to ask the professor, but was too shocked to speak as he saw the man was inspecting the pool of blood too, and there was a single tear running down his cheek. Harry quietly turned away and pretended he hadn’t seen anything.

When they finally came across the horrifying creature, crouched over the beautiful white unicorn, Harry was almost frozen with shock. His scar burned, and he stumbled backwards a pace when the figure turned, Malfoy having run off almost the moment he saw it.

“Run!” Professor Scamander yelled, unusually loudly for the man, and Harry listened immediately, tripping over a few stones but running for his life. Behind him, there was the slithering of _something_ over the leaves, and he feared blindly for the professor, but the man was quickfire shooting spells at the creature in the moment that Harry dared to glance back. He ran into a centaur instead, and learnt that Voldemort was the one after the Philosopher’s Stone.

Professor Scamander didn’t return with them to the castle, but Hagrid said that the man was alright, and that he was taking care of the unicorn. Harry felt desperately sorry that he couldn’t do anything to help either the unicorn or the professor, and Ron and Hermione didn’t manage to get much out of him on the way back up to the castle.

He told them the full tale (minus Professor Scamander’s reaction to the unicorn) the next day, after he’d seen the man at breakfast.

He hoped he’d never have to see that _thing_ again.

* * *

Unfortunately, Harry was a trouble magnet. He always had been, and often thought glumly that he always would be, and so when that was doubled with his hero complex, he wound up going through an obstacle course and chasing after the Philosopher’s Stone.

He tried going to Professor McGonagall first, but she dismissed his fears. She’d said that Dumbledore wasn’t in, and Harry had asked “What about Professor Scamander? Could you get him? Please! It’s important!”

The professor frowned down at Harry. “Professor Scamander is not currently in Hogwarts. His talents as an animal healer have been required,”

Harry’s eyes widened further, his hope that Snape wasn’t currently after the Philosopher’s Stone fading, and he left Professor McGonagall at the fastest walk he could get away with.

Quirrell’s presence had been unexpected. He fought hard, knowing that neither of his strongest teachers were around to save him, but in the end he succumbed to the darkness at the edges of his vision.

Harry swam up from unconsciousness a little to hear voices arguing nearby. He wasn’t quite aware enough to open his eyes, but he could make out the sound of what seemed like Professor Dumbledore and Professor Scamander having a heated conversation.

It was weird, hearing them argue.

“Albus, you know I support you but-“

“Newt, I didn’t intend for it to turn out this way. You know that,”

“Yes, but it did, and it is your fault. I trust you, but he’s a child and you must have seen the possibility,”

“Newton…”

“No, Albus, please,”

“I am sorry,”

“Tell me your plans next time. That’s better than sorry,”

Plans? Harry wondered what exactly Professor Scamander was talking about, dimly thinking that ‘Newton’ was a pretty odd name, and sunk back down into the blackness, waking up again to see only Professor Dumbledore there.

They talked for a little while, and Harry asked before the man left “Professor? Was Professor Scamander here?”

Dumbledore looked a little startled, but then smiled gently at Harry and replied “Yes, my dear boy. Many teachers have been by to check up on you,”

“Oh, okay then,” Harry smiled back, his eyes fluttering closed again, and he missed as Dumbledore’s smile fell into a guilty frown as he stared at the boy on the bed.

“Get some sleep now, Harry,” he said to him softly, and waved his wand wordlessly to pull the covers up a little bit more. Harry snuggled into them in his sleep, and Dumbledore thought that maybe Newt had a point. Next year would be different.

* * *

Harry was sad, extremely so, to be leaving Hogwarts to return back home to the Dursleys. He knew it was going to be even harder putting up with them than usual, given that he’d just had the most amazing year to compare them to, and so he threw himself into the Leaving Feast even more to make up for it.

He’d been a bit disappointed to learn that Slytherin had won the cup, but had attacked the food with gusto anyway, and when Dumbledore awarded him last minute points, Harry was ecstatic.

The entire table had jumped up in joy, and Harry was laughing in delight when he caught Professor Scamander’s eye, and held up his cup in a suddenly tentative cheers. The professor smiled back, jerking up his own cup for a moment, and Harry beamed at the silent ‘congratulations’. He wondered if perhaps Professor Scamander was his favourite teacher, despite never actually having him, and decided that he definitely was (although it was a thought he didn’t share with Ron and Hermione).

The train ride back was far more subdued, but Harry felt optimistic anyway, even upon seeing Uncle Vernon’s scowling face.

He had a home to return to at the end of the summer. Life was going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Year One complete. I have many ideas for what's up ahead, and honestly I'm just looking forwards to actually being able to write Newt and Harry interacting properly, since I forgot that CoMC isn't actually a class until Year Three (damnit Rowling)
> 
> Weekly updates :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Middle Road](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8822506) by [TimesBeingWhatTheyAre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimesBeingWhatTheyAre/pseuds/TimesBeingWhatTheyAre)




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